Cement-free castables have attracted significant attention due to their superior thermal-mechanical properties and rapid dry-out in comparison to cement-bonded refractory castables. However, drying industrial-scale specimens can pose more challenges than lab-scale samples. In this study, the dry-out behavior and explosion resistance of microsilica-gel bonded nocement castables (NCCs) were investigated on both lab- and industrial-scale specimens, employing various drying agents.